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Simple steps to sharing your faith

How do you share the gospel with non-believers?   For many people they struggle with how to share their faith with those around them and so  I would like to share some simple things that help me in sharing the gospel with the people I come in contact with, that may or may not help you. 1.   Relationship Firstly the only way to share anything with someone is through relationship.   Showing that you care for them as a person not just as someone to convert.    They matter, as a person, and that you want to help them in their situation.   You need to meet them where they are at and relate to them on their level. For example; years ago we lived in Mahoenui, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night a man and his girlfriend turned up at our doorstep in the middle of a domestic dispute where he was drinking and being abusive and she was afraid.   To meet him where he was at and to listen to him and cool the situation down, when he offered me a beer I took one from him and

Time for the regular 'ear check'

I love reading the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 through to the end of chapter 7.  It always brings such life and realignment to my life every time I read it.  I encourage you to take some time to digest it.  But in the reading of it, I always find the heart of God, the true character and nature of Jesus and in this, the call of my life as a Christian to walk out and grow in. The meaning of the word of Beatitudes means “supreme blessedness”  so if you want to be blessed then I would encourage you to not only read it, but spend your life pursuing it as a heart way of living. Last night I had this picture of a person, a friend of mine, whose ears were so blocked that she couldn’t hear anything.  I find this in a lot of places I walk into, many many christians who are not hearing the voice of God, whose ears have blocked up and no longer hearing what God is saying. Along with that picture, one thing I am noticing a lot of at the moment is the word “communication” and the supp

A Word of Warning to the Wise

Last night I saw several pictures that I would like to share with you as I believe in this Christmas season it is easy to be led astray down paths that are not beneficial both to ourselves and to others. Firstly,  I was visiting someone and in their tree was a snake which shocked me as we don't have snakes in New Zealand and then it went onto the ground and I told the owner of the house there was a snake there.  I thought of Eve in the garden tempted by a snake.   1 Cor 10:13 "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." Particularly at this time we all get tempted with many things and in those temptation sometimes its wise to simply 'say and walk away'.  Recognise those areas in your life where you may be tempted and stay away or walk away from those things that cause temptat

I love the local church

I find myself at times fiercely defending the local church and church leaderships, mainly from christians who have been hurt by the church and in essence have still not forgiven the people from  which the hurt has come. We all get hurt by the things that can happen in church, but it is not in ‘church’ we are hurt by, it is in ‘relationship’ with people and those people happen to be in the church, but for me I simply see these things as an opportunity for growth in myself and learning to love.  I am continually asking the Lord for ‘more’ and often the ‘more’ comes in way of a challenge in which to love someone and in the learning of these lessons I find I become more like Christ, which is the prayer I am praying asking for ‘more’. Without the challenges I have faced within the ‘local church’ and the christians that I am around, I would not be the person I am today, or carry the message God has given me, because these things have helped contribute to the growth of my character

Assuming motives can be dangerous.

Reading 2 Sam 10 this morning and what struck me was how something so simple that was supposed to bless and encourage someone, can be totally taken the wrong way and in that, cause major damage. In this story King David is wanting to express kindness to Hanun whose father had died.   But Hanna’s nobles, those close around him, spoke to him and suggested that in fact he wasn’t wanting to express sympathy at the death of his father, but rather exploring and spying out the city in order to overthrow it.   Because of this, they attack those who are sent on behalf of King David and shame them and in return, David retaliates. Ki ng David’s heart was to bless and to honour another King, but after that King Hanun listened to those around him, who planted thoughts other than those of David’s, and in the process caused a war. How often do we not take things as face value but try to work something out according to the way we see it, rather than perhaps the way it was giv

"And now these three remain: faith. hope and love." 1 Cor 13:13

Two pictures things the Lord has given me over the last 10 days. Firstly; Prior to going to Christchurch I had this vision where I saw this massive tree falling to the ground and taking out people around them as it fell. Then this morning I was reading in Matt 3:10 and it reminded me of that vision I saw. Matt 3:10 says “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” It’s a powerful word of warning that if we are living supposedly Godly lives and yet are not living lives that produce fruit in keeping with repentance,  the fruit of love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, etc, the fruit of the spirit that is found in Gal 6, then I believe we will see people who are big people to those around them, people who are leaders etc. fall and cause damage. Secondly; Something that startled me yesterday as I was sleeping, I woke up to the sound of a clanging symbol.  I l

Do you feel alone or discouraged today?

I was greatly encouraged this morning as I read 2 Timothy chapter 4.   This chapter outlines some of Paul’s struggles and how people loved the world and followed their ways and in so doing caused much harm towards Paul and his ministry, but his hope remained in the Lord and His reward comes from Christ alone. Verse 10 “Demas has forsaken me” Verse 14  “Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm” People can come and go out of your life.  People can cause trouble, but we are called as Christians to endure hardship as it says in 2 Timothy 2:3   “Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a solider”. 2:10  “Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.’ We go through many things in life, many challenges and it is easy to look to man, to get discouraged b

One step forward, two steps backward?

A few nights ago I had this dream where I saw some friends of mine they had put their house on the market, sold it, but shortly after selling went and bought back the original property that they had sold.   The house had been upgraded slightly in the process but I thought what a waste of money and time because it had cost them so much in the buying and selling of properties through the real estate agent only to go back to the original house. I believe the Lord is wanting to say something here to His people.  The Lord is shifting us out of the old season and into the new, and in the process of taking us from one thing to another there is a cost at some level involved in letting go of the past.  Which you are happy to pay but after being out in a strange place for a little while, a perhaps unknown place, a place where perhaps you don't yet have all the answers, it is easy to revert to what we have known in the past, what we have been familiar with and fall back into old habits and

Is it tough going at the moment? Are there giants in the land?

A few nights ago I had this dream where I saw many big ugly giants and vines trying to stop my way through to where I needed to go.   They were blocking my way through.   But there were two others with me and we slowly worked our way to the front of the line of giants and then we needed to go up higher through like a manhole up into the next level to get away from the giants.   All the giants too were trying to get higher as well.   As the three of us together helped each other we could get above and into the next level but the giants that were there trying in their own strength to get to the next level, they could not reach it. So many of us are trying to do things in our own strength and finding we are always falling short of what we see ahead of us, but at as we work together and help one another we can go places we never would be able to if we tried to on our own. We are called to be overcomers in Christ, but we need each other to help us to go places we cannot go on our o

From Revelation to Revelation

The Lord has been taking me on a journey lately that has challenged some of my thinking, challenged some of my belief systems in trying to bring together the word of God, the heart of God, and His unconditional love for his people and it is bringing me into such a freedom that I am so excited where the Lord may take this, I am so thankful to the Lord for this journey even though at times it has been very difficult. As ministers of the gospel (of which we are all as Christians called to be), part of our job in the Lord is to as it is written in 2 Timothy 15 is to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”.  We are called to continually grow in our understanding, revelation and relationship with the Lord.   If we are remaining as we are ,then our relationship in the Lord is not a growing healthy one so anything that might challenge some of your thinking, challenge your walk in the Lord, is a goo

Its a new day!

A new day dawning, Hope is rising, Faith restoring....... What I believing the Lord is saying at the moment is that we are stepping into new things, that things once promised that have died, the Lord is resurrecting, but we have to let go of the past and move from the place we have been in to allow those promises and dreams to come into being. God has so much for us in the future "There is too much victory ahead of me, I am overwhelmed with His love for me" The season we have been in is good, and has been great, a great place of intimacy with the beloved, a great place of learning, like the first house Jim and I were in after we were married, but it is time to move on, time to grow into maturity and walk in the promises the Lord has given each one of us from that place of intimacy and the knowing of who we are in Christ, alongside Christ, together in partnership with him and him alone. We are no longer dependant on man as our husband is our maker, he is our provider, tha

My grace is sufficient.

Yesterday I had three pictures; One, people came bringing bad news. The second, others had been offended and shut me out. And the third, I was on a airport runway and another plane tried to take me off the runway before I could lift off and go where I was going, but I was able to get away from it. As I prayed about these pictures the Lord had given me I believed he said to me; “Be careful who you listen to and go with.  Things are going to try and bring discouragement and shut you out and they will try to take you off track but keep focused.  Build my church”. So discouragement and obstacles are trying to get in the way of the purposes of God being fulfilled in my life and those around me and hence why I share what the Lord showed me because I believe for many in this season of change right now, hold onto what you believe God has said over you and don’t allow the enemy to abort the promises in your life. Something over the last several weeks that keeps coming bac

Are you comfortable and familiar with things?

This morning I had this picture where I saw two large different animals that had somehow turned up in my home and they were taking over the lounge and they needed feeding. They were peaceful animals but the space they took was huge, taking over my lounge. As I asked the Lord what these animals were I saw that they were ‘comfortable’ and ‘familiar’ and I saw I was quite happy for them to stay as they weren’t bothering anybody but  they needed feeding and were taking up space. But I know that these ‘spirits’ are destructive to kingdom living. We can very easily become comfortable and familiar with things, with ways of doing things, of acceptance of things that are not of the Lord, of believing and justifying its alright if we continue to live the way we do, even of things such as pain and so we continue to accept it and live with it when the Lord may want to heal, things like ways of reacting, speaking or anger may also too be areas that you may have become comfortable and familiar

A NIGHT OF WORSHIP WITH HANS KRAENZLIN

We are so blessed to have  Hans Kraenzlin  joining us and leading us in a Night of Worship. When:   18th of March at 7pm Where:  192 Kent Street, Hamilton    Venue: The Life Church Building There will be an offering taken to bless Hans in coming. All welcome!  Come and join us as we worship Jesus together! To find out more about Hans and his ministry, check out his webpage: http://hanskraenzlin.com/images/ For more information or questions phone Sarah Chamberlin on 02102651601

Words are powerful weapons

The Lord has been recently challenging me on some of the words I speak (even in the sharing of testimony) and the motives of the heart that underline those words that come out from my mouth.  Words are powerful things and if we allow the Lord to reveal what is underneath some of our words, then we realise what is actually at the root or at the heart of the words we speak that may need healing or truth spoken into such things. With our tongue comes either blessing or cursing. With our tongue the overflow of the heart speaks (Matt 12:34) With our tongue we can turn a whole ship, or set a spark which creates a huge fire that sets the whole course of our life (James 3:5) With our tongue we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness (James 3:19) Prov 19:16  “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver.” For example: are  the words I am speaking lifting me up and putting others down? (